NATIONAL BRIEFING | PLAINS; North Dakota: Immigrants Arrested

By JULIA PRESTON

Published: October 30, 2008

Federal authorities in North Dakota on Tuesday arrested 23 immigrants from India who were working for a construction company in Fargo. An immigrant advocate, Saket Soni of the News Orleans Workers' Center for Racial Justice, said the workers were among some 250 Indian immigrants who have claimed they were victims of human trafficking when they were employed as guest workers at Signal International, an oil rig construction company based in Mississippi. The workers, whose legal status expired after they walked off their Signal jobs in March saying they were misled and exploited, have asked the Justice Department to allow them to remain in the United States to testify in a trafficking investigation. To date, four workers were given temporary visas as witnesses. Federal prosecutors in North Dakota charged the immigrants with document fraud and claiming to be United States citizens.